Between 2019 and 2020, crime rose almost 9 percent in Colorado, according to newly released FBI statistics. That’s the fifth-highest increase in the crime rate in the country.
Furthermore, statewide data from 2019 to 2021 found Colorado’s violent crime rate (homicides, sex assaults, robberies, and aggravated assaults) increased 17 percent, with murder alone up 47 percent for that same time.
“Colorado, historically, has been a remarkably safe state, well below the national averages … we can’t say that anymore. I study this crime data on a daily basis, and we have significant challenges,” stated Denver Police Chief Paul Pazen.
Colorado Springs Major John Suthers echoed Pazen’s concern, showing that increasing crime isn’t just happening in Denver. Suthers stated to KRDO that Colorado Springs has been experiencing the most significant crime wave since the late 1980s.
This increase in violent crime is hurting Denver’s restaurants, and if the trends continue, Colorado Springs’ restaurants may soon face the same problems.
Denver’s Restaurant Scene and Rising Denver Crime Rates
In May, Gabriel DeCastro, an assistant restaurant manager in downtown Denver, explained what was happening outside his restaurant’s door and the impact. “It’s scary, being completely honest; it’s very scary. We have to have cops every Friday and Saturday. We have to double up on security just so I can keep the staff and my people who come to enjoy themselves safe,” DeCastro stated to CBS News Colorado.
Additionally, DeCastro said that when opening after COVID lockdowns, he’d hoped for “revitalization” in downtown Denver. But the frequency of violent crime keeps people away and hurts businesses. “There are fights on the corner, fights across the street, they block the street, they fight on the street. The shootings, knives – it’s been very challenging. It’s something that I didn’t expect. I believe the owners and higher management didn’t expect it at all.”
Blaming the pandemic for the rise in crime may be tempting, but Pazen said the pandemic didn’t have anything to do with the spike. “Please tell me how a virus makes people commit more crimes, makes people steal more cars, increases the number of shootings we have? The state of Colorado has emerged from many of the mandates earlier than other states, yet the last four months have been remarkably high for homicides,” he stated to CPR News.
Indeed, violent crime rose in 2019 before COVID hit Colorado, supporting Pazen’s assertion. Instead of blaming the pandemic, Pazen believes the increase in crime is due to recently enacted laws that lessen penalties for certain crimes, and prosecutors are not pursuing criminal charges.
Crime Goes Unpunished
From 2010 to 2020, Colorado’s population increased by 14.8 percent. The national population increased by 7.4 percent, according to the most recent U.S. Census Bureau report.
That increase in population should generally increase criminal prosecutions and incarcerations. However, in Colorado, that’s not the case. “While Colorado’s population and violent crime rates have increased, its incarceration rate has fallen,” reports the Colorado District Attorneys’ Council.
In fiscal year (FY) 2019 in Colorado, there were 56,292 district court-criminal filings, according to the Colorado Department of Public Safety’s February 2022 report. In FY2020, that dropped to 51,378 filings. That number fell even lower in FY2021 to 43,834 — an almost 15 percent drop compared to the previous year.
Lower prosecutions were not the result of fewer arrests or crimes. In 2019, there were 19,223 violent-crime incidents and 22,155 offenses reported in Colorado by 225 law enforcement agencies, according to the FBI Crime Data Explorer. In 2020, there were 20,829 violent-crime incidents and 24,470 offenses reported in Colorado by 225 law enforcement agencies. 2021 data is not yet available but is expected to show an increase.
As an example of what’s happening regarding crime, Tom Raynes, head of the Colorado District Attorney’s Council, said to CPR News, “There’s nothing compassionate about leaving a heroin user or a fentanyl user or a meth user on the street or arresting them and turning them back out. You’re just enabling the addiction and that doesn’t help anybody.”
Is Colorado Springs Next?
Colorado Springs is experiencing an increase in crime, but it’s not yet as high as Denver’s. According to the Colorado Springs Police Department’s Violent Crime Statistics, in 2021, there were 3,187 instances of violent crime in a population of 498,879. In 2022, the number is currently at 1,242 and climbing. For comparison, in 2021, Denver’s Police Department reported 7,394 violent crimes in a population of 2.97 million. For 2022, that number is 3,108 and climbing.
The reason for the increase in crimes is still under debate. However, two of Colorado’s best-known former prosecutors, George Brauchler and Mitch Morrissey, co-authored a report that found Colorado’s state policies are directly responsible for the skyrocketing increase in crime.
If the report is accurate and statewide policies are responsible for increasing crime, Colorado Springs’ downtown may soon face problems like that of Denver’s downtown restaurants.
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